Road rage suspect caught in Armenia
By Jason Kandel, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News
Nov 12 2004
One of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives has been captured and returned
to Los Angeles four years after fleeing to Armenia after killing a
man during a vicious road rage incident in Universal City, authorities
said Thursday.
Shahen Keshishian, 32, a former truck driver from Burbank and a U.S.
citizen, was arrested this week by Armenian authorities at his
apartment in Yerevan, the country’s capital.
FBI agents and Glendale police, who were in the country on unrelated
business, located Keshishian after detectives in the Los Angeles
Police Department’s North Hollywood Division asked for assistance
tracking him down.
They quickly located him and informed Armenian authorities, who
arrested him for overstaying his visa. Keshishian was promptly handed
over to U.S. authorities.
“I am pleased as punch. I am just so elated,” said LAPD Detective
Martin Pinner of the North Hollywood Division’s homicide unit, who
returned from Armenia on Wednesday with the suspect.
“This arrest, I do believe, came as a result of policemen talking
to policemen, and massive cooperation with other agencies in two
different countries.”
LAPD Deputy Chief Ronald Bergmann, who oversees the LAPD’s Valley
Bureau, praised the work of North Hollywood Division detectives.
“This is an example, once again, of how we do police work in the
Valley. We try to always get our man. North Hollywood did a great
job putting it all together.”
FBI officials said the arrest was a warning to criminals who have
fled the country.
“This arrest should send the message to individuals who flee to
Armenia and other countries that it’s not a safe haven,” said FBI
spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.
Keshishian has been charged with murder and is expected to appear in
court Nov. 24. He is being held at the Twin Towers Jail in lieu of
$1 million bail.
He is accused of running down freelance film editor Michael Craven,
44, of Canoga Park with a black Chevrolet Suburban on April 29, 2000,
after the men became involved in a road rage confrontation along the
Hollywood Freeway.
Craven had been driving on the freeway after dinner with a friend when
several men in their 20s pulled up in the black Suburban and threw
eggs. One of the drivers had apparently cut in front of the other.
Authorities say Craven pulled to the side of the freeway just south
of Barham Boulevard to confront the suspect, and the Suburban driver
stopped behind him. A passenger in the Suburban then threw a beer
bottle at Craven’s Jeep.
Police said that after Craven got out of his Jeep, the Suburban was
seen backing up, then driving forward, running Craven over. He died
hours later.
Minutes after the incident, Keshishian was ticketed for speeding,
but police did not connect him with the earlier road-rage case. A
month later, officials issued a $25,000 reward for his capture and
released a composite sketch.
Three months after the killing, Keshishian was listed as one of the
FBI’s most wanted.
The Suburban was a key clue that eventually led to the international
manhunt, Pinner said. An unidentified person had fraudulently bought
the SUV and loaned it to Keshishian the night of the murder.
“We researched every Suburban purchased in the time frame around the
murder,” Pinner said. “We looked for him all over the U.S. with the
help of the FBI and tons of agencies. Boston, New York. I spoke to
people in Texas. We did a lot of work.”
Detectives continue to search for the passengers in the SUV that night.
“It was the passenger throwing the stuff at the victim,” Pinner said.
“It’s a felony. The passenger is also going to jail. I’d love to
figure out who he is.”